Sex Ratio in India

Sex Ratio is a term used to define number of females per 1000 males. It's a great source to find the equality of males and females in a society at a given period of time. In India, Sex Ratio was okay till the time of Independence, thereafter it has declined regularly. According to Census of India 2011, Indian sex ratio has shown major signs of improvement in the last 10 years. From a small number of 933 in 2001, the bar has been raised to 940 in the 2011 Census of India. Although this improvement is fair enough in a developing economy, but still there is a long way to go. India suffers from a huge inequality of male female child ratio resulting in a poor sex ratio in some regions. With a overall improvement in sex ratio, the states of South India has shown major signs of improvement in comparison to states of Haryana and Punjab (North India), where sex ratio is far lower than national average figure.

Improvement of Sex ratio indicates a healthy growth rate among female to male population in India. The state of Kerala and union territory of Puducherry are only two places in India where sex ratio is above 1000 or exceeds female to male ratio. Another three states which has shown a major signs of improvement in their sex ratio are Assam, Mizoram, and Nagaland. Densely populated states of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim have also shown improvement in female to male ratio. According to Census of India, all these states have taken necessary measures to improve sex ratio in urban and rural areas. Delhi and Chandigarh have also registered a sharp growth in sex ratio between 2001 to 2011 census. On the other hand, the states of Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana have also shown positive signs of overall improvement in their sex ratio. In fact, these two states have registered a postive increase in their sex ratio in the last few years. According to recent estimates of Haryana Govt, the state's child sex ratio (0-6 age group) crossed 900 mark for the first time in December, 2015. This is the first time in the last 15 years that Haryana child sex ratio crossed the 900 mark. Overall, Sex ratio in various states of India has started to witnessed a descent growth in the last 4-5 years begining from Indian Census in 2011.